Duathlon Nationals

Just a quick update on how Duathlon Nationals went. I'll put some pictures up in a couple of days with maybe a little more of a recap. The short of it was I came 2nd in the 25-29 age group and was 13th overall. The overall winner was in my age group so that kind of stunk. He ran like a darn deer (both 5ks=sub 15:30). Ran my fastest 5k ever and it was in the first leg of a duathlon. Biked my ass off and rode by almost everyone in my age group and the one below mine. I then watched about 5 or 6 guys run away from me, most of which I saw blatantly drafting on the bike. I'm getting tired of this happening in these bigger races and yes for some it is hard to avoid at times b/c of the nature of the course, but for others who do not even try to get away and ride their own ride this disgusts me. I guess at the end of the day each of these people know whether or not they deserved their result. Personally, I'd rather be 13th place and know I raced the race on my own effort rather than a higher place off a mostly free bike ride. Sorry for the rant...it's just getting old. You work your butt off to be as versatile a multi-sport athlete as possible and then you get beat by men (boys?) who don't have enough self respect to compete to truly test themselves.

Congrats to a lot of local people who raced very well today. Sam won the 20-24 age group. Joel was 15th I think overall. Todd Bibb had a great race and was right up there in the top few on both the runs. He's going to be scary at duathlon once he gets some more riding under his belt. Jacob Anderson improved on his race from last year in a big way. I know Leslie Fedon had a good one. Tad Derrick and Jeremy Davidson were up there getting after it too. Unfortunately, Denise Woods got a flat on the bike...she seemed in good spirits afterwards regardless of the fact. I saw some other Final Kick jerseys out there and they all looked like they were giving it their all. Next race = Kinetic half ironman on May 8th. Thanks for reading.

Anna Maria Island

Here are some pictures from spring break 2 weeks ago. My family has been going to Anna Maria Island for years...it's a great place to get away for a week. Had to show the picture of my grandpa. There was a band playing quite a few oldies and after a few beers he was up singing and dancing. Never a dull moment with him around! It was really a great trip and I am already looking forward to next year.

Conquer the Canal TT

I did the Conquer the Canal 20k TT today. It was a fun way to get in a solid bike session. I faired pretty well in the Cat 5 race, taking 1st place. I was pretty happy with my power numbers and time, especially going sans race wheels. I was even happier how the half ironman intervals went afterwards...they felt like cake compared to the TT effort. Followed that up with a nice t-run to finish out the morning. I wasn't done yet though. Headed home to get some lunch and then I was off to Range of Motions for a 2 o'clock workout with Nick. We did some new stuff today and it was good, but tough! I am glad word is catching on how good of a thing Nick has going. Coaches and athletes in the area are taking a liking to it. Stopped by Final Kick afterwards to build up a bike and then it was home to my lovely wife who was making some homemade pizza for dinner. She's awesome. Now it's American Gangster on TNT. Another solid training day tomorrow to cap the week.

Life is good.

Dynamic Health Services- Diane Haupt

Many in the Hampton Roards area know of Diane Haupt. She has been the top female triathlete in the area for a while now. Unfortunately, this winter she had a bit of a bike accident and so she'll be sitting most of this season out.

Diane owns Dynamic Health Services in Virginia Beach. It is located inside the Fitness 24-7 Club on Little Neck Rd. Diane is a physical therapist by profession, but does a number of other things. Yesterday I did a lactate threshold test for the run and also gait analysis. Looking at the results...things are looking good for Eagleman. I am very aerobically fit right now. I have some work to do on my top end, but when your focus is long course triathlon it's tough to have both. Both of these things are going to be very beneficial to me as I go on with the season and seasons to come. An LT test is so important because it is really the only true way to see how your body is responding to training. Sure you can go by feel/pace/hr for running, but with the test you know exactly where you stand and therefore what needs to be worked on from a physiological standpoint. The gait analysis is just as important. Running economy is most likely the #1 determinant of long distance running/triathlon. It is essentially how much energy you are using at a given pace. This has everything to do with one's running form. A lot of people do not give enough credit to the importance of run technique. Well, this is going to be changing...especially for triathlon. Bobby McGee spoke at the USAT clinic I attended in Charlotte this winter and he was adamant that run technique needs to be focused on almost as much as swim technique. There is so much free speed out there and it could be a matter of tweaking just some minor technique flaws. I think my run form is decent, but I also know there is room for improvement. With Diane's help and then help from Janda as he'll be able to see the video too...hopefully we can knock off a few seconds a mile. If you live in the area and want to get faster...go see Diane for these services. She provides an excellent service.

Dynamic is where it's at

My coach, and the guy I coach under... Janda Ricci-Munn has some recent blogs/podcasts up over at Landice. Go here to check it out. This stuff has been around for a bit now, but there is more and more proof of the benefits of warming up dynamically as opposed to just static stretching. It's kind of funny, as Nick at Range of Motions just posted his own little video showing a little different way to go about warming up in a dynamic fashion. I think there is a time for static stretching post workout, but that's about it.

Just got a nice sized box from Zoot so I'll have another blog up soon...what a cool company!

PowerBar

My first shipment from Powerbar arrived today. Lots of good stuff!